In Years Past

October 4, 2013

In 1913, Arthur E. Hughes, a rancher of Forsyth, Mont. who was at one time believed to be dead, was arrested in a Park Row saloon in New York City on charges of grave robbery, arson and conspiracy to defraud a life insurance company in his native state. He was accused of having stolen the corpse of a neighboring rancher named Craig, placing it in his home, setting fire to the home with the assistance of his wife and then disappearing to let her collect $2,000 insurance on the grounds that the charred remains in the house were his own. The information which led to his arrest came from his wife who was under two indictments herself. Hughes' wife had married a farm hand named Elliot after his "death" and both she and Elliot had been under suspicion for the murder of Hughes.

According to the ringmaster, the Camp Fire Circus had the greatest aggregation of circus performers and animals ever collected under one canvas and although there had been no billboard advertising of this circus the "tent" was filled to its capacity Friday evening and a still larger crowd was expected at the second performance this night. The circus was being given by the three local camp fires of the Camp Fire Girls of America in the YWCA building in Jamestown. All of the features of the circus were there and it was doubtful if the big shows of Barnum and Bailey were ever received by a more enthusiastic audience.

In 1938, Dah-Sa-Noeh, "The Sagacious One," 96-year-old Indian who was known by the American name of Owen Jacobs, died at WCA Hospital at 4:30 o'clock in the morning, a victim of White Man's magic. He suffered a fractured skull and internal injuries at 7 p.m. the previous night when the car in which he was riding failed to make a turn on the road between Frewsburg and Onoville. The car left the road and turned turtle. Jacobs, who was born on the Cornplanter reservation near Bradford, Pa., was riding with his stepdaughter, Mrs. Wilson A. Kelvington and Mr. Kelvington, who resided near Salamanca, when the accident occurred. Mr. and Mrs. Kelvington suffered bruises in the crash. The aged Indian sage was hurtled through one of the machine's doors.

Members of the traffic division of the Jamestown Police Department were having a real nightmare planning a program for handling parking and traffic in the senior high school area for the night football games scheduled at the new stadium in the fall season - the first of which would take place Oct. 7. "Under the best possible arrangement," said Traffic Lieutenant Oscar C. Bergdahl, "there will not be room enough near the High School for all of those who would like to park their cars." Bergdahl recommended that as many persons as could do so conveniently should leave their cars at home and either walk to the stadium or avail themselves of some other means of transportation.

In 1963, a Portland young man died in Westfield Memorial Hospital at 11:05 p.m. of head injuries received when his car was struck by a train at Green Bush Crossing at Fuller Road, Town of Portland. He was identified as Stewart Dean III, 23, of West Lake Road, Route 5, Portland. Investigating officers said Dean was returning home from work at Kraft Foods and was alone in his 1963 model car at the time of the accident. He was reported traveling north on Fuller Road when a Pennsylvania Railroad train comprised of three engines and 68 cars, traveling east, struck the left front of his auto. The car was carried about 72 feet down the tracks.

Trapped in a 12-foot well, a 600-pound Holstein steer was rescued from drowning on the Morrelle Persons farm, Shore Acres, Route 17, by volunteer firemen. The animal, one of five steers on the eight-acre farm, crashed through a fence around the well and as it stepped upon the wood cover, its weight smashed the boards and it fell into more than six feet of water. Fortunately, there was sufficient water in the well to break the steer's fall, which prevented it from being injured. Bemus Point volunteer firemen pumped the water out of the well. The firemen used two lengths of 2 1/2 fire hose to make a sling. A tow car hoist was used to raise the animal from the well.

In 1988, the sale in 21 Hills Department Stores in Ohio of certificates of deposit from a New York state savings bank would be reviewed by the Ohio Department of Commerce. Goldome, a savings bank based in Buffalo, began selling the CDs in some of the department store chain's Ohio stores in 1986 but never obtained state permission to do so, said Fred Alverson, a spokesman for the department. Ohio law barred out-of-state banks from operating in the state without the state's approval. "It's really a gray area - are they a bank or are they not a bank?" Alverson said. "One problem we are having is that this crosses a number of different jurisdictions."

There were students in Jamestown who could be getting lunch for nothing or for very little - but weren't. That was the opinion of Jamestown School District's food service director Walter Gaczewski. "There are a lot of people who would qualify for free and reduced price lunches who aren't applying for it," he told the school board. Gaczewski said the problem was particularly severe in the high school where only 10 percent of the students got free or reduced lunches, compared to 30 percent of the population in the elementary schools. "A lot of people are afraid of being identified as free," he said, adding that pride apparently was getting in the way.